February 2017 Archives

On behalf of Law Offices of Alice A. Salvo posted in Trustees on Thursday, February 23, 2017.

Assuming the role of personal representative for the estate of a family member or friend in Woodland Hills means making a huge commitment of both your time and effort. If you are not familiar with estate or probate law, you may have to put in additional hours of research on top of the time spent actually performing your duties. Many come to us here at The Law Offices of Alice A. Salvo asking if they can be paid for agreeing to be a personal representative. The payment guidelines for your services as a personal representative have been detailed in the blog before. This post will address which of your expenses may be reimbursable.

On behalf of Law Offices of Alice A. Salvo posted in Trust Administration on Thursday, February 16, 2017.

One of the main advantages that many often cite when extolling the benefits of trusts is the privacy that they afford. Woodland Hills residents can place estate property and assets in trusts without having them become a matter of public record. According to the American Bar Association, one can even protect the identities of his or her beneficiaries through a trust. All he or she must do is have their estates pass into trusts via their wills. Yet the privacy protections offered to a trust settlor and his or her beneficiaries may not necessarily extend to a trustee.

On behalf of Law Offices of Alice A. Salvo posted in Trustees on Thursday, February 9, 2017.

Those who come to us here at The Law Offices of Alice A. Salvo after having been named as the personal representative for the estate of a deceased acquaintance in Woodland Hills consider such an appointment to be quite an honor. However, if you have been asked to fill such a role, you should understand that there are a great number of responsibilities that come with it. If your experience in estate law is limited, then it may benefit you to research what your expected duties are immediately after learning of your appointment. This is because the law requires a certain immediate action of you: the submission of an inventory and appraisal of the estate’s assets.

When an individual becomes unable to make necessary life decisions on his or her own, that person likely needs someone in a position to make those decisions for him or her. Of course, you would likely want to have someone you trust and who acts responsibly to have that power. However, unless you plan accordingly, a judge could appoint a conservator to act on your behalf.

When preparing estate planning documents, it may be vital that Woodland Hills residents keep all of those that may be interested parties to their estates involved in the process. That may help to eliminate the chance for disputes between heirs and beneficiaries once those people are gone. Yet even with apparently open channels of communication, disagreements may arise if and when those impacted by amendments to documents such as wills or trusts are informed of those changes.

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